Respectability Politics
(coming soon) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respectability_politics https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/trans-activists-need-to-remember-indp-of-jenner/ "Publicly coming out as trans is super brave. And visibility did and does prompt national dialogue in a time where trans lives are targeted daily. I want that. I want people to open. But what happens when the doors are only open to a handful of “acceptable” trans lives – those that don’t threaten the status quo? Is that a success? No. That is transnormativity. As transnormativity gains steam, it generates what is called respectability politics: I am ok with you being ____________, as long as it fits into the story I have of what an upstanding ________ person looks like. You’ve likely witnessed gay respectability politics: I’m ok with you being gay as long as you don’t rub it in my face, or I would’ve never known you’re a lesbian, or I’m gay but I’m not like those people." https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/11/respectability-politics-black-women/ "“Respectability politics” are rules for marginalized people to follow in order to “earn” respect in mainstream culture. For Black women, this means policing our appearance, speech, and sexuality with pressure to be an upstanding Black woman – not the kind who makes the rest of us “look bad.” We adjust our own behavior to avoid the racist, classist, and sexist stereotypes other people might put us into. Sadly, we often put this pressure on each other and ourselves. Sure, the ultimate culprit is racism – the system of white supremacy in the United States devalues us just because we’re Black. But as a natural result of living with such an oppressive system, we can internalize racism and hold ''ourselves''to oppressive standards in order to get by." Autism and Respectability https://www.autistichoya.com/2018/10/neurodiversity-needs-shoes-off-fists-up.html?m=1 Lydia X.Z. Brown :”I’m constantly caught between demands that I perform an impossible level of respectability, professionalism, or whatever you want to call it, or else be completely discarded and invalidated, and the reality that no matter how well I can operate in stealth or mask or pass as having any manner of privileges I currently lack, I will still be ignored and dismissed and accused of being too radical, too militant, too intense, too crazy, too immature, too unpressional, too passionate, too scary, too angry, too bitter, too resentful.” :”Believe me, I understand the need for day to day survival. If wearing a suit versus a t-shirt and jeans will make a difference in whether my advocacy for/with a friend or client works, of course I’ll wear the suit. If using certain academic/professional field-specific terminology will help an audience understand an argument I’m making, of course I’ll use that terminology (so long as it’s not something I find inherently dehumanizing). If I need to be careful about not dropping the word “fuck” during a job interview (which we all should strive to not do), of course I’ll be mindful of it. :Many of us also understand both how fucking privileged it is to be able to enter the world of higher education, let alone exit with the degree in hand, and how much more respect (and therefore credibility, legitimacy, and potential influence/ability to intervene in terrible situations/systems of power) we will gain if we do so, respect that can help us and those we care about survive. I know this intimately, because I’ve already experienced how much easier it is to move through certain specific spaces now that I can put letters after my name. But no amount of degrees or professional credentials will ever unmake me as a neurodivergent, disabled, queer, nonbinary trans, East Asian weirdo. I still have people ask me where my parents are.” Category:Social Justice Category:Oppression Category:Privilege